Wiikly WiiWare Wiiview is a new weekly featurette here on Go! Gaming Giant in which we will bring you information and reviews on the latest Nintendo WiiWare titles each week.
This week, we’re treated with three new titles: Family Card Games, “Aha! I Got It!” Escape Game, and Carnival King. But is this a case of quantity over quality?
Family Card Games
Mommy, Daddy, Billy, and Sarah are back for yet another Family game with strange, implied sexual undertones. Unfortunately, the game’s inappropriate vibe may be its only interesting quality.
Family Card Games is a shallow experience, featuring only three card games, the most easily-recognizable of which being Memory, a game in which all cards are placed face-down in a square, and a pair have to be matched in order to earn points. It’s not exactly the most exciting game, but it is a decent way to pass the time. Another game available is Speed, a fast-paced race to discard your entire hand by placing cards in sequential order, either higher or lower. There are no turns in Speed; you simply play cards at every given opportunity. It’s a fun game, but it is heavily reliant on your skills with the Wii remote. You must be fast and precise in order to succeed here, so this is definitely a game you’ll want to play with friends.
Surprisingly, Family Card Games also has an online multiplayer mode with Daifugo, sometimes referred to as Very Rich Man in the US. Simply put, Daifugo is very similar to Spades/Hearts and Bridge, in the sense that it uses tricks (one player taking the cards that are played). You want to get rid of your low cards early in the game so you will be able to play your high cards later on. It’s quite a fun game, even on the Wii, but the online multiplayer is pathetic. You’re able to use friend codes so you can play against your friends online, but it is rather pointless because there is very little to discern human players from computer players. The only means of communication is through the use of emoticons. So if little angry faces keep popping up when you make plays, you will know that you are playing against another person.
There is actually quite a bit of DLC available for Family Card Games, but it’s hard to justify paying money for alternative cards. All in all, Family Card Games is somewhat entertaining, but its few game modes are indicative of its lack of content. The online multiplayer is virtually pointless; other games have already done the same thing with better results, and… well, it’s just more fun playing these games with real people and real cards. There’s a chance that this will be the last Family game from Aksys, which may have some people breathing a sigh of relief. However, there are rumors that more games are already in the works, so we’ll just have to see what the future holds.
Score: 4/10
“Aha! I Got It!” Escape Game
Point-and-click adventures are making a comeback in mainstream gaming, and Ateam Inc. has decided to jump on the bandwagon with their quirky Escape Game; and it’s actually not too shabby. The game has you playing as Milo, a young boy who has been locked in his room by his father… as a birthday present. See, Milo loves puzzles, and, being the everloving parental figure he is, his father has created a room full of them. The only way for Milo to leave the room is to solve them all.
As far as point-and-click adventures go, Escape Game isn’t groundbreaking by any means. In fact, it’s quite mundane. However, if you enjoy this type of game and have a child who is getting interested in gaming, then you will surely have a great time. Just be sure to wear your thinking cap, because halfway through the game, some of the puzzles become surprisingly tricky. This provides a great challenge, but it also presents some minor problems.
First of all, part of the difficulty is attributed to the game’s limitations; sometimes, interacting with objects simply doesn’t do what it should. And the hint system is laughable at best. The hints are so vague that you may need to consult a walkthrough just to figure out what they are trying to tell you.
That aside, Escape Game is rather enjoyable and will likely take you at least two hours to complete, which isn’t bad for the small price tag. It doesn’t provide much replay value, but trying to solve the puzzles might be an enjoyable famly venture. If you are a hardcore completionist, there are medals to collect in the game, and it also has a few alternate endings. The game does have a couple minor flaws, and it isn’t nearly as long as it should be, but these are fairly easy to overlook. There are certainly worse things you could spend 500 Wii points on.
Score: 7/10
Carnival King
Step right up and try your luck at a few frenetic shooting gallery games. Carnival King is the second WiiWare offering from Incredible Technologies, who has been in the coin-op industry for 20 years and is now trying to expand into home consoles. For the most part, Carnival King is fairly solid. It’s a fast-paced gallery shooting game that will provide you with minutes of fun.
Yes, minutes.
The game has three different sections (or midways). Each one of these sections has four games, and each game has two rounds. Each round is approximately 20 seconds long, and if you earn enough points—which you almost certainly will—you unlock a bonus round, which is also 20 seconds. That comes out to about 9 minutes of gameplay. Taking loading times and exploring the options into account, I played through the entire single player mode in roughly 15 minutes.
The multiplayer adds a bit of competition to the game, but aside from that, nothing else changes. Of course, that doesn’t make the game any less fun. After all, who doesn’t love to play around with the Wii Zapper and relive the good ol’ days of Duck Hunt on the NES? Unfortunately, although fun, this game is incredibly repetitive. There are 12 different games that all have the exact same premise: shoot everything that moves.
Some are more challenging than others, and perhaps you will have certain preferences, but changing the scenery simply isn’t enough to keep things fresh. The only parts that actually stand out are the three games in which you have to shoot in colors and patterns. And the monotone announcer isn’t much help when it comes to keeping things lively, either. If someone is going to direct me and criticize my shooting skills, he should at least sound enthusiastic.
Unlike the announcer, the music is upbeat and authentic to a real carnival. The game’s graphics are somewhat bipolar, though. Going through the menus, you are presented with grainy, boring images that resemble an old 1990’s PC game. However, once actually playing the game, the graphics are smooth and lively. Incredible Technologies decided to only focus on where it actually mattered, I suppose.
At its core, Carnival King is a fun game, but it is far too short, and once you have played through it a couple of times, there isn’t much reason to give it another go. If this is the sort of game you are interested in, I strongly suggest getting Wild West Guns instead. If you already have that and don’t mind spending 700 Wii points on a game that can be completed in the span of a TV show, then perhaps this will be worth your consideration.
Score: 6/10
Family Card Games was developed by Arc System Works and published by Aksys Games.
“Aha! I Got It!” Escape Game was developed and published by Ateam Inc.
Carnival King was developed and published by Incredible Technologies.
All titles were released for WiiWare in North America on 11/2/2009.
